GERONIMO STILTON: THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

STORY SYNOPSIS
Geronimo Stilton is the editor of The Rodent’s Gazette newspaper in New Mouse City. He and his family must embark on a swashbuckling, time-traveling adventure to stop his dreaded enemies, the Pirate Cats, who have gone back in time to stop Christopher Columbus from sailing west and discovering new land.

REVIEW
Filled with mystery, danger, adventure, history and facts, Geronimo et al. take the elementary reader on a trip across the seas and help us discover our own history. We meet Ferdinand and Isabella, see old sailing folklore up close, discover native populations, and learn a bit about life in the 1400s as the team stop the greedy cats.

GERONIMO STILTON is a hoot for those who love animals and adventure. The pace moves smoothly, the text is robust but not overwhelming, and the art is kid friendly and fun. What’s not to like?

IN THE CLASSROOM
The way that the GERONIMO STILTON graphic novels incorporate real-life historical events and persons creates a real opportunity for teachers to use dual texts in lessons. It would be very easy to study Columbus’ trip with a nonfiction book and combine it with the fictional comic book to help students understand more than just … “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” They can learn about why Geronimo and his clan had to change clothes, roles of sailors on a ship, how folklore can influence people, and the importance of different cultures.

OTHER INFORMATION
GERONIMO STILTON is originally an Italian traditional children’s book series translated into English and published in America by Scholastic. Papercutz is publishing all new GS stories in comics format.

CHRIS’ RECOMMENDATION: Highly Recommended
Flying on the coat tails of the popularity of the traditional book series, and the fact that these are new stories (not old GS stories repacked in comic form) I think classroom teachers have a real winner available to them and their students.

3 comments:

Hey ChrisThanks for the review. Papercutz has done a great job with these books. The size and hardcover binding of the volumes are wonderful for classroom and library collections. You can see they will last for years of enthusiastic use.Integrating facts into the story is what Geronimo books do best and I'm glad they carried on this facet to the GNs.Thanks for your great website too Chris!CheersInger

About TGC

The Graphic Classroom is a resource for teachers and librarians to help them stock high quality, educational-worthy, graphic novels and comics in their classroom or school library. I read and review every graphic novel or comic on this blog and give it a rating as to appropriateness for the classroom.

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Would you like your comic or graphic novel reviewed here at THE GRAPHIC CLASSROOM? You can do so in two ways, one of which is guaranteed and the other is not:

1. Send me a copy of the comic or graphic novel. I will read it and review it as soon as possible. You can email me privately and I will give you my mailing address. abikerbard@mac.com

2. You can simply tell me about your creation.

If you send me a copy, then I will review your submission. I will be honest and fair and do my best to get your book reviewed in a timely manner. I am a full time graduate student, so my time is limited. If I receive a lot of books, then I will put them on a first-come, first-reviewed list and do the best I can.

If you cannot or will not send me a media copy of your book, then you can just request that I review it. My money is short, as I am going to school and not working, so you are depending on my ability to afford your book. There is no guarantee that I will get to your work nor any guarantee that I will even review it. If I can afford it and have time to read it, then I will most certainly review it. It's all about the teachers, librarians and kids.

Reviews are never based on free media copies. I am writing my Master's Thesis on the subject of comics in the classroom, so this is important to me. I am committed to this and I take reviews very seriously. I do not rip into books in order to get readership. I will have a critical eye, but I am also excited about helping teachers find great books for the classroom.

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About The Editor

My name is Chris Wilson. My first name is Jack, which is why you see it on the posts, but I usually go by my middle name: Chris. Having worked as the Managing Editor for a weekly newspaper then as the Director of a non-profit for people with disabilities, I have gone back to school. I am now a full time graduate student in the college of education at Missouri State University. I am getting my Masters of Science in Education – Elementary Education.

I know that reading is a problem for many students today. I feel strongly that comics and graphic novels can be one way that we can combat this problem. Graphics novels should be in every public school library and classroom library. That is why I am choosing to write my thesis on using comics and graphic novels in the elementary classroom.

Email Meabikerbard@mac.com

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Disclaimer

Some comic literature is not appropriate for every classroom, or every community. Some are not appropriate for any classroom. You need to review any piece of comic literature for yourself and determine if it is appropriate for your grade, class, curriculum, goals, school and community.